To successfully implement a marketing strategy, it is very important to understand the motivation of customers that encourages them to purchase the goods or services you offer. In this post we will look at the most obvious examples of questions for . This is a key aspect when forming a working business concept.
How it works
Marketers believe, and one cannot but agree with their opinion, that a well-formulated question is a decisive factor in helping to understand the client’s true need.
Of course, there are alternative methods for obtaining this information. For example, sometimes it is enough to simply analyze how one or another reacts to a similar product. However, this data is usually not enough, so it is better to ask questions. And then, based on all factors, form your own.
Interviewing tactics
There is an expert opinion that for a successful survey it is important that closed questions at the beginning and end of the process are eliminated. This is done so that the opponent cannot say “no”. In addition, the questionnaire should be unobtrusive so that the person does not feel like he is being interrogated. Adhering to these rules is especially important in the case of telephone interviews.
For a successful interview, it is important that closed questions at the beginning and end of communication are excluded.
Typically questions are used to achieve the following goals:
- Increase the client's sense of importance.
- To monitor the sales process.
- To understand the client's needs.
- To understand the mechanism of formation of a negative position of clients regarding goods/services.
If the research is conducted not at a retail enterprise, but, say, at a service organization, the list of questions can be formulated in the form of a questionnaire.
Examples of errors
The most common mistake that leads to failure at the beginning of a conversation is asking a question like “Can I help you with something?” This is a closed type of question that, in most cases, leads to a negative answer. After this, it is quite difficult to continue the conversation. To avoid this, it is advisable to first ask open-ended questions that encourage the client to continue the conversation. For example, you can introduce yourself and find out what interests the client. Here are several options for good questions that can be used in sales:
- What style do you prefer... (in a clothing store).
- Who are you buying for... (in an electronics store).
- What models do you like... (in an electronics store).
- What would you like... (universal).
This list is not complete, but according to professionals, when a salesperson uses these types of questions, in most cases, trust is built between him and the client, which is the first step towards achieving the goal.
We hope that this publication was useful to you, and the information obtained in it will allow you to more subtly understand the essence of your activities and formulate accurate questions that identify the needs of your customers and form effective sales strategies.
Tasks
Identifying needs, desires, motives and limitations.
Establishing trusting relationships.
Involving the client in the transaction process.
Tools
The main tool is questions.
Active listening.
Analysis of the information received.
Questions to identify needs
Types
Open - imply a detailed answer that provides the greatest amount of information.
Alternative - implies an “either/or” choice. Provide the client with the opportunity to choose from prepared options.
Closed - imply a monosyllabic answer “yes/no”.
Types of open questions
What is most important to you?
Maybe you have special preferences?
Identities. Allows you to understand the true meaning of what the buyer is saying. The fact is that people often use the same terms to denote different meanings. For example:
What do you mean by?
About the reasons. I allow you to understand the reasons for the client’s beliefs. For example:
In connection with what?
Clarifications. Or clarification. For example:
How much?
How fast?
If we find a suitable option, how quickly can you make a decision?
Stimulating. If the information received is not enough, we can simply request an addition:
What else?
Funnel of questions
Using and combining the main types of questions, we build something like a funnel. We ask open-ended, three or four questions, obtaining the maximum amount of information. For example:
Tell me, what do you look for first when choosing?
What do you mean by...?
What is the reason for this belief?
With the help of one or two alternatives, we direct the dialogue towards a successful transaction. For example:
Tell me, do you plan to start using it in the near future or only in the summer?
At the end, with the help of one or two closed ones, we put a point. For example:
Tell me, are you satisfied with this option?
Echo question
This tool is widely used in active listening. And the importance of the active listening tool is that this approach encourages the buyer to talk about his requests and problems.
An echo question means that we repeat the buyer's reaction with a questioning intonation. Thus, making it clear that we expect a more detailed answer. For example:
I want to get quality performance.
High-quality performance?
Yes, my last purchase only lasted a couple of months.
About the price
Perhaps the question of the expected price of a product is the most controversial. On the one hand, it (the question) allows you to cut off a large number of options “unclaimed” by the client. But on the other hand, it can be great to limit the choice.
An important characteristic of a product is price/value. And if the buyer sees that the product solves the problem, then he is ready to pay. The question of price can create restrictions - without understanding the value, the buyer's expectations may be low budget.
Alternatively, you can talk not about a specific price, but about a price range.
About the experience
It’s a good idea to find out the client’s experience with similar products. So, for example, a client may have his own preference for a company or, on the contrary, negative prejudices. By asking an open-ended question about what worked and what didn't, we can gain important information.
About alternatives
If we cannot offer the client what he wants, we can ask about alternative options:
Are you ready to consider other, perhaps more interesting options?
Who makes the decision
Are you buying for yourself or as a gift?
Tell me, do you need to consult someone to make a decision or do you make the decision personally?
Buyer motives
In addition to identifying needs, it is necessary to understand what else motivates the consumer. Motives are how the buyer expects requests to be satisfied. For example, a person is thirsty. Thirst is his need. But a person can quench his thirst with tap water or water worth a hundred dollars per liter. This is the motive of quenching thirst.
As a rule, the buyer speaks about his motives himself. For example, if we are told that the previous model that the client was using was out of order, we are talking about the reliability motive. In the presentation we must talk about our guarantees. Or if they tell us that they don’t want to waste time studying instructions, then it could be about comfort.
There may be one motive, or a little less often several. The main ones are:
Safety and reliability
Prestige and anticipation of new products, fashionability
Saving
Comfort and desire for stability, not variability
Important! The desire to save money on a purchase, for example, is not a need - it is a motive. If during a presentation we use “this option is inexpensive” as a key advantage, then the response will be minimal. And only if the buyer expects savings. The product must solve a problem.
Research by Neil Rackham and SPIN Sales
While working on the SPIN method, Neil Rackham's team studied large and small sales. A trend was identified - the difference between successful sales and less successful sales at the stage of identifying needs (research stage). Namely, questions about the client’s problems. This was especially noticeable in small sales. In small sales, when the deal is successfully completed, the number of questions is much higher than in failed deals.
Identifying your customers' needs is an extremely important step in developing your sales strategy. The ability to correctly identify all the needs of your potential clientele allows you to find those who have decided to use your service or purchase a product from you.
This article will cover:
- How to determine the needs of each individual buyer and implement sales technology taking into account each of these identified factors.
- How to ask the right questions to uncover a specific client's needs or expectations
- How to develop your own listening skills in a practical way.
To do this, the following questions will be studied:
- What are the needs of the buyer who came to the retail outlet, and what exactly is the purpose of his visit.
- Types of questions asked.
- How will the information be consolidated later?
- Basic ideas on this matter.
- What actions need to be taken.
What are the priorities and needs of each buyer or sales manager?
In fact, despite the fact that this question may seem quite simple, not everyone can answer it or answer it incorrectly.
Consumer priorities:
- What are my needs?
- What will I get in the end?
- What kind of goods can they offer me or what services do they provide me here?
- Why should I buy here?
Seller's priorities
- The consumer and maximum satisfaction of all his needs.
- The advantages of our outlet and the meaning of such advantages for the buyer.
- Ideas,
How is detection carried out?
For each specific buyer, the seller must necessarily find those that meet all his needs, as well as all of his In this case, what has already been identified with the buyer will play its role, after which he will recognize the need to use all the listed advantages for himself, and will make the final decision much faster. A seller who constantly identifies the buyer's needs has some opportunity to expand his own business, as well as find all kinds of additional areas where his services or products can also be used.
Based on all the information received, a person can understand for himself as much as possible what exactly his proposals can arouse certain interest among people, because he already knows the basic methods for determining the need for working capital and methods for their rational use. Often at this stage there may be some impression that the assortment is missing a certain service or product that could increase sales, and the novice seller may even end the conversation with the buyer. Just showing all the possibilities of your situation is not enough now; you need to present absolutely all the factors that can indicate the buyer’s need for your services or products.
Hello! In this article we will talk about the process of identifying customer needs.
Today you will learn:
- Why is it necessary to determine customer needs;
- What types of needs exist?
- How to identify and analyze customer needs;
- What mistakes exist when determining needs.
Why identify customer needs?
The client is the main value of any modern enterprise. The client's problem is the company's problem, the solution of which is their common goal. The solved problem is the organization's profit.
It would seem that everything is simple. It is necessary to find out from the buyer about his needs and offer a product that can satisfy them in the best way. However, in reality, sellers face difficulties in identifying these very needs.
Finding out the customer's needs is a task that a company faces several times. For the first time, the question of determining customer needs arises before developing a product and forming a marketing mix.
The rule should work here: do not sell what you have produced, but produce what they will definitely buy from you. Therefore, before you start developing a product, you need to identify the market needs.
In this case, we first define the needs in stages. First for the entire target audience. For example, schoolchildren need a pen with putty on the other end.
Then, we break the target audience into segments and define the need more narrowly for each segment. For example, elementary school students need putty ballpoint pens, and high school students need helium pens.
After this, we can produce goods that people will definitely buy from us.
Needs should also be taken into account when creating the marketing mix. For example, parents buy stationery for young children, and they prefer to see the rational advantages of the product; we use this in advertising the product. But older children go to the store themselves. They want to stand out or be like their idols, this can also be used when promoting a product.
At this stage, needs are identified through market analysis, surveys and research. Then a map of the needs of each target segment is drawn up.
However, the question of studying needs arises again. It represents the second stage of the sales process. Let's figure out why this is needed.
Reasons for the need to identify customer needs in the process of selling goods:
- The same product can satisfy different needs, and therefore needs to be sold differently. For example, someone buys a smartphone to surf the Internet, while others need it to make calls and watch video files. Having determined this, the seller will offer the first client a gadget with 4G and good Wi-Fi reception, and the second client a smartphone with a large and bright screen and good sound;
- Knowing the client's needs, you can present the product correctly.
- One of the stages of the sales process is responding to customer objections. It is possible to make an argument that can convince a consumer to purchase a product only by knowing his needs. This will allow you to operate with the value content of the product for a specific consumer.
- Knowing the needs allows you to establish a trusting relationship with the buyer: show sympathy, support.
Types of Customer Needs
There are many different classifications of needs. Remember Maslow’s pyramid of needs or Herzberg’s two-factor model of needs, but they are ineffective at the stage of product sales.
In sales, it is customary to distinguish two types of needs: rational (they are also called functional) and emotional .
Rational needs - the main needs, without the satisfaction of which the further existence of the individual is impossible. Of course, this is too categorical a definition for the modern world, but in fact it is fair. For example, you are walking through the city on a hot summer day and are very thirsty. You will definitely stop at the nearest stall and buy a bottle of water, because without it it will be very difficult to continue your journey.
Operating with the rational needs of the client, it is possible to sell consumer goods: food, clothing, furniture. At the same time, the consumer may not be interested in the financial side of the issue.
When working with such products, emphasis should be placed on the functional benefits of the product. For example, a jacket can be presented as follows: “This jacket is made of cold-reflective material, it will prevent you from freezing outside, and at the same time you will not be hot in it in transport.”
Emotional Needs arise when the rational ones are satisfied. Example An emotional need may be the need for self-expression or belonging to a group; these are social needs. A product that satisfies an emotional need must reflect the consumer’s values and worldview.
Branded products can play on the emotional needs of the client. For example, consumers associate the Apple brand with a certain status and level. This is the satisfaction of an emotional need.
Selling a product that satisfies an emotional need should be based on the client’s feelings and emotions. For example, the same jacket can be sold like this: “This jacket is a new trend for this season. Mr. “N” himself walks around in it!” The person referent for this consumer should be represented as Mr. “N”.
There is another classification useful for salespeople. According to it, internal and external needs are distinguished.
Internal needs associated with the client’s personal experiences and fears. For example, a girl buys cosmetics to please herself.
External needs associated with a person’s desire to gain public recognition. For example, the same girl buys cosmetics to please her boyfriend.
Moreover, despite the fact that the girl in both the first and second examples needs the same category of goods, the purchases will be different. In the first case, the choice will be based on the girl’s personal preferences, and in the second, on the guy’s preferences.
Stages of identifying client needs
And now the client is already in your store. You approach him and say the classic phrase: “ Can I help you?" The visitor gives his classic answer: “ I'll take a look and, if anything happens, I'll contact you." And this is where your interaction ends. This is a common mistake.
Step 1. We determine the need.
Before approaching a potential buyer, observe him, see which product categories he pays more attention to, and conduct an initial collection of information. This way you will understand exactly what product he came to your store for. For example, we sell dishes, and our client walks around the sales floor and looks at teapots. From this we can conclude that he came for the kettle. Everything is very simple. The “observation” stage in the process of determining the client’s needs should not take more than 30 seconds.
Now you can approach the client. Approach with a proposal: “ Good afternoon New teapots were brought to us today, we haven’t had time to put them on the sales floor yet, let me show them to you" or " We have a kettle that boils 2 liters of water in 30 seconds, let me show it to you”.
By the way, the client can respond to the second sentence by expressing his need: “ I need a bigger kettle” or “I don’t need an electric kettle" And you can already work with this. Therefore, at this stage, try to characterize any product in your proposal.
Step 2. Demonstrate and ask questions.
If the client agrees to follow you, then first we show him the product, and then we start asking questions.
If he expressed his disinterest in your proposal, then we immediately move on to the questionnaire with questions. By the way, if you are a novice salesperson, then it will really be useful for you to create a short questionnaire with questions. You don’t need to show it to the client, but this way it will be more convenient for you to remember all types of questions and situations of their use.
Questions are of the following types:
- Open– questions requiring a detailed answer. Example: “What kind of kettle do you need?”;
- Closed– questions that require one of two possible answers. Example: “Do you need an electric kettle?”;
- Alternative– questions containing two alternative answers. Example: “Do you need an electric or regular kettle?”;
- Rhetorical– serve to maintain conversation and create a friendly atmosphere. Example: “Is this teapot really beautiful in design?”;
- Suggestive– questions that push the client to the correct answer (for us). Example: “If you need a large-capacity kettle, then it’s better to take a regular one to save electricity, what do you think?”
Situations in which this or that type of question is used are presented in the table.
Step 3. Listen!
Once you've gone through the questioning stage, you'll now have to listen to the client's objections.
At this stage, you must adhere to two rules: do not interrupt the client and participate in the conversation. This can be achieved using active listening techniques. It consists of “ying along” with the client, repeating his last phrases or the key meaning of the phrase. By doing this you will show your interest in what your interlocutor is saying, and therefore in his problem.
This completes the process of identifying needs; all that remains is to bring your interaction with the client to its logical conclusion.
Step 4. Answer.
What to do after identifying needs?
After the client speaks out and tells you about all his problems, give a reasoned answer to all his objections. Don’t argue with him, evaluate the mood of the interlocutor, give as arguments the real characteristics of the product that are valuable to a specific consumer.
That is, in order to convince the consumer of the need to purchase a product, refer to the needs that we have just identified.
Let's return to the example with the teapot. Let's say our client needs a large electric kettle that would allow him to save electricity and boil water in no longer than 3 minutes. We show him a suitable option, but the client says that he is not satisfied with the price.
Let's return to the needs - saving electricity. Now we can confidently tell our client that in a certain amount of time he will “recoup” the price of the kettle by saving energy and at the same time he will get quick boiling of a large volume of water, which he will not get with any other option.
Common mistakes when identifying needs
The most common mistakes that a manager makes when identifying customer needs are the following:
- Seller's Monologue. Remember that your goal is to identify needs, and you can only identify them by listening to the client. In an ideal dialogue, the seller and buyer should participate equally.
- Wrong tactics in working with clients. As you can see from the data in the table, for some types of consumers the best option will be a predominance of open questions, and for others - closed questions. If you make a mistake, there is a high chance that you will lose a buyer.
- We identified one need and stopped. Remember that one need entails the emergence of other related needs. By identifying them, you can increase your sales several times.
- Identification of needs and presentation of goods in one stage- this is a very common mistake. First, you need to determine the need, and only then, using knowledge of the client’s needs, present the product.
- We interrupt the client. You cannot interrupt a client, even if he is wrong and behaves tactlessly. It is necessary to let the buyer speak, and only then respond to his objections.
- Maintain a conversation on another topic. Your task is to guide the dialogue; do not let the client go far from the topic.
An open question is one way to obtain information. A person asking open-ended questions usually starts them with the words: “who...”, “what...”, “how...”, “why...”, “how much...”, “in connection with what...”, “what is your opinion...”
Open questions are one of the best ways to get to know a stranger better and establish friendships. Experienced negotiators use open-ended questions to get shy or nervous people to talk. Teachers often use open-ended questions when working with children or foreign students.
Purpose of an open question
Listening to the answer to his question, an experienced counterpart deliberately puts himself into a certain emotional state, allowing the potential client to feel like the main person involved in the meeting. As practice shows, an inexperienced person, finding himself in such conditions, loses his head and can tell his interlocutor even something he had not planned.
If the expected effect is not achieved, the person asking the questions makes the next attempt to get the client talking - doing everything in his power to turn the failed monologue into the beginning of a dialogue.
Why do people ask open-ended questions?
Open-ended questions are a quick way to get more information and learn about the real motives driving the interlocutor. The ability to ask the right open questions is a kind of skill that can only be mastered if theoretical knowledge is confirmed by many years of practice.
During the first meeting, the seller tries to outline the circle of interests of the interlocutor and create conditions for satisfying his problems. An experienced negotiator achieves this by asking questions such as: “Do you think you could benefit from...?”, “What are you interested in at the moment?”, and also invites the client to consider his options for answers, formulating them in the form of questions, for example : “Why don’t you...?”, “What if you try to do this...?”
To understand how a potential buyer perceived the seller’s intention to help him make his choice, they ask questions: “How do you feel about this?” or “What do you think?”, and if the client doubts, the reasons for the doubts are clarified with the help of questions: “What worries you?”, “What do you doubt?” or “What could be a hindrance?”
Examples of open questions
“What caused this situation?”
“Why do you think your choice is correct?”
Perhaps someone will be surprised by the following In sales, questions like: “What problems can you solve by purchasing this product?” Salespeople working in the store usually don’t ask. But they are actively used by direct sales workers who are interested in long-term cooperation and strive to find a reason to win the trust of a potential client.
Here are examples of open-ended questions that distributors typically ask:
“Do you think this purchase has brought you maximum benefit?”
“When did you first hear about this opportunity?”
“What benefits have you noticed?”
Another example of an open-ended question in sales, a question like: “What result do you expect?” opens up the opportunity for the seller to demonstrate the entire range of goods that meet the client’s expectations, and allows the buyer to make the best choice.
Before going to a meeting with a client, the salesperson carefully considers what questions he will ask and in what order.
How to start a dialogue
This topic worries almost every newcomer who has decided to devote himself to the field of sales: “how to ask a question to a person who does not intend to listen to me?”
A knowledgeable negotiator uses open-ended questions to better understand the client's needs. When asking his questions, he tries:
- so that the wording is extremely clear. The shorter the question, the greater the likelihood of receiving a detailed answer;
- so that the dialogue does not turn into an interrogation. Questions asked in a relaxed manner have a better chance of being heard.
Of course, the seller must know how to ask the right questions. There are cases when a theoretically savvy beginning salesman, even knowing it exactly, did not achieve success. This is because many beginners have never heard that any phrase at the end of which the speaker's voice weakens sounds like a statement of fact. When the speaker pronounces the last words of a phrase, raising his voice, the entire phrase sounds like a question.
Fully concentrating on the interlocutor, the seller, listening to his answers, can, in principle, remain silent, showing his interest only with an approving smile, a nod of the head, or using the so-called “body language”.
Having heard an unsatisfactory answer, which does not give the opportunity to form an impression about the client, an experienced salesperson does not panic, but continues to show interest through facial expressions, postures and gestures, thus encouraging new attempts by the client to give a detailed answer. During the conversation, the sales representative observes the body movements of the interlocutor. For what? More on this a little later. And now - about the rules of active listening.
An active listener does not interrupt the client, but sometimes utters phrases like: “Yes, indeed!”, “That’s interesting!”, and also clarifies anything that he does not understand using open-ended questions.
As one of the methods, most sellers use the following technique: they repeat the words spoken by the client and pause, during which they think about their further actions, and at the same time let the client know that his opinion is of interest to the interlocutor. There are cases when a novice seller offended a client by not paying due attention to his words.
Sign language
If the listener crossed his arms over his chest, he took a defensive position. This posture should be interpreted as a signal: “Let’s change the subject.”
If the interlocutor leans slightly towards the speaker, he is very interested in the conversation.
If a potential buyer scratches his beard (chin), twirls an object in his hands or wipes his glasses, he makes a decision.
If the client sits upright, he is open to communication and completely trusts the seller.
If a person slouches, he is full of humility and wants to please his interlocutor.
If a client absentmindedly taps the toe of his shoe on the floor or the leg of a chair, automatically draws something or clicks with a ballpoint pen, he is bored.
If the listener's body is turned towards the front door, he is waiting for the right moment to say goodbye and leave.
If a person covers his mouth with his hands or looks past the speaker, he does not intend to discuss any topic.
How not to have a conversation
Many salespeople believe that during a meeting they should spend as much time as possible describing the benefits of the products they are offering. But the description of the product does not guarantee the conclusion of the transaction.
Another common mistake new salespeople make is that by trying to answer all the customer's questions, they allow the customer to control the outcome of the transaction.
Wrong open questions
“Do you want to save your money?” is a poor example of an open-ended question. Correct wording plays a very important role in sales. If the question is asked incorrectly, he will lose control of the situation and lose the client.
Making sales means controlling the development of events. The manager or the person asking the questions determines the direction of events, and his interlocutor is, to some extent, a passenger who is traveling in the direction chosen by the manager.
“What do you think would make your life better?” is another bad example of an open-ended question. In sales, different types of questions help achieve different results, and a sales representative who allows a potential buyer to talk about abstract topics is wasting time.
Proper negotiations
Experienced sales representatives begin preparing for negotiations by setting goals, that is, deciding what information about a potential buyer he needs and how to get it.
The beginning of negotiations is, in essence, the collection of information, having received which, the seller can proceed to the presentation. Inexperienced sales representatives make the same mistake - instead of asking a potential client about his needs, they allow him to ask questions himself.
The seller cannot start asking questions without finding out what position the potential buyer occupies, since the needs of an ordinary employee and a manager are significantly different from each other.
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